Musk’s hyperloop: Technologically–if not politically–feasible

Elon Musk has a new idea—and this one has everyone talking. The chief executive of Tesla Motors and SpaceX has revealed his latest idea: a high speed transit system that could take passengers and cars from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.

So how close are we to hyperloop travel?

“Musk’s plan is technologically very feasible. Whether or not politically its feasible, or economically its feasible is another question,” said Glenn Derene, senior technology editor at Popular Mechanics, on The Cycle Tuesday. ”The political challenges are everything from literally politics, in other words to getting people to clear this type of stuff, to the logistics of building such a structure along I-5, just imagine the construction equipment and stuff like that.”

But with Musk’s established track record of getting things done, it’s easy to envision hyper loop travel in our near futures. “Musk is not a crackpot,” Derene said. “He is a real guy with a scientific background and an established business record.”